


Danger Seems Like A Good Thing

by theblock2012



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Buckle up, Gen, Humor, Inspired by Maximum Ride, M/M, PLEASE read the summary, Swearing, bird kid au????, fighting/violence, i'll add more characters as the story goes on, i'm working so hard on this i promise it'll be good, trust me - Freeform, xoxo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-10-10 11:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10436403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theblock2012/pseuds/theblock2012
Summary: Taeyong (or TY as the cool kids aka Taeyong call him) is your average, everyday teenager except with wings and hybird bird DNA and nine other hybrid bird-kid mouths to feed.  Running for your whole life from the lab that created you isn't ideal for anyone; and constantly being on the brink of death is no party.  But when you've got your flock by your side danger almost seems like a good thing.





	1. The Flock

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers!! Yes, this little piece is inspired by my absolute favorite book series: Maximum Ride. If you've never read it I HIGHLY recommend. I got this idea one day for an NCT/MR mashup and behold: this child was born.
> 
> DISCLAIMER(S)!!!  
> -this is only INSPIRED by the story of Maximum Ride. I own no rights to the original series, and the rest of my fic except for the concept is 99.9% all moi. I'm only snatching the idea of bird-kids okay? This isn't going to be word for word the story of Maximum Ride except Ctrl-C Taeyong Ctrl-V into wherever Max goes. Just inspired by. Cool? Cool.
> 
> Anyways I really really hope y'all enjoy this. 
> 
> ALSO:
> 
> (for those of you unfamiliar with the story of MR: each bird kid grew up without knowing their real name, so all 6 of them have a creative nickname. ex: Max, Fang, Nudge, Angel, etc. I ran with this for the fic but chose to keep most of their original stage names (ex: Johnny, Ten, WinWin, etc.) because I view them as interesting names already that don’t need to be changed because they fit the mood of the story!
> 
> The changed names are the following:
> 
> -Taeyong: mostly goes by Taeyong, but sometimes is addressed as "Ty" (can be pronounced as either/both “Tee-Why” or “Tie”  
> -Doyoung: D  
> -Jaehyun: (sometimes) Jae
> 
> And the roommates in the flock's house are as follows:
> 
> -Taeyong and WinWin  
> -Jaehyung and Doyoung  
> -Hansol and Taeil  
> -Johnny, Ten, and Mark  
> -Yuta (room alone)
> 
> If you ever need to reference this info, chapter one is your best friend!
> 
> Enjoy!~

Sunlight cascaded through the giant glass window behind me, and I stretched out my back muscles to the open air.  No one was around.  I could be free.

With a sharp breath in and a powerful gust the room was filled with the giant shadow I now cast.  Two wings, made up of layers of dark brown silver and cream feathers that swept up into the air.  I let all of the oxygen fill up my lungs, and let the warm light fill up every inch of my feathers.

Safe.  That’s one word to describe how I felt in that moment.  But the truth was, in that moment, I felt myself.  I felt free.  But I would never admit those feelings to anyone.

Being alone with no flock wasn’t my style.  I needed the other bird kids around to feel safe; to feel like I belonged somewhere in this dark, twisted world.  But they were gone.  I had no one.  I was the leader of birds with no flock to show for it.

Perhaps, I didn’t belong.

My thoughts were interrupted with the ear piercing shriek of someone whose voice I could recognize even if my ears were ripped off my head.  Their voice mixed with the sound of the glass shattering into a million pieces. 

I didn’t scream out as the shards of glass penetrated my skin, my bones…my wings.  In fact: I hardly even felt it.

I felt the pounding of my own thoughts more.  The taunting: “this is why you need a flock.  You’re so selfish.  Why did you leave them.  Why.  Why?  Why?!?”

And then, I’m falling.

I send signal after signal to my shoulders for my wings to move, move,  _ move! _  They’re supposed to save me, supposed to _carry me_.  Always.

“If you can’t even keep a flock around, what makes you think your wings would want to stay loyal to you?”

Shut the hell  _ up. _

This is it.  It’s finally time.  The last thing I see before colliding with the ground so far below me is the face of the one person who had always wanted me dead anyways.  Their grim yellow eyes shone even from up on the cliff and their smile sent a message of “finally” however mixed with something I had never seen before from them.  It was almost, if I’m not too delusional to say this, “I’ll miss you: old friend.”

And then everything is cold.

\---

“Did he fall out of bed while sleeping again?  Fucking weirdo.”

It was so cold.  My back hurt so bad and I was so damn _cold_.  I didn’t think being dead meant freezing over like a popsicle but here I am.

“Well put a blanket on him or something.  That looks uncomfortable as hell.”

“Can we go eat now?”

“All you ever want to do is eat?”

“Oh and you don’t?!”

Why was being dead as annoying as being with the old flock.  Constant talking; were ghosts supposed to be noisy as hell or-

Fuzz.

Suddenly there was fuzz all over me and part of me felt like freaking out because what is this but it was also just so _warm_. 

Oh.  A blanket.

Oh.  So maybe I’m not dead.

I slowly peered one eye open, then the next, to find a familiar face leaning over me.  His hair was tousled from sleep and he sat down so gently on my legs it didn’t even feel real.

“Good morning.  Want to go eat?”  The literal voice of an angel.  It was Winwin, my roommate.

Ah, so that was just another dream about the Lab.  I should’ve figured that out immediately but hell, with everything we’ve been through lately it’s hard to tell reality from nightmares anymore. 

But right now, knowing that the cold on my back was just the hardwood floor and not sharpened rocks smashing my spine in two, and that my flock was still here, I was okay with accepting reality right now.

“Mm, eating sounds great.”  Was the half-assed response I forced out of my mouth mid-yawn.  Winwin gently took my wrist with his arm and helped pull me up.  We folded the blanket, and I smoothed down his hair.

“You looked like you had horns.”  I joked and he smiled.  It’s good.  It’s okay.  Winwin is smiling and the flock is here and we’re safe for now and we’re going to eat and it’s all okay.

On mornings like this when we could wake up whenever and eat whatever it was so easy to forget we were on the run; running from death and  _ worse _ nearly 24/7.  It was so easy to forget to stay alert and God I wish I could just pretend like everything was okay all the time and all of us are just normal kids with parents and maybe a decent education.

I wish I could forget everything up until now to be quite honest.  Except meeting the flock, and the feeling of the fresh air on your back as you take flight; yeah I’d like to keep those two memories thank you very much.

Walking into a kitchen of chaos was both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing reminding me I had the dumbest and most wonderful family in the world.  And a curse because it reminded me I had the dumbest and most awful family in the world.  Emphasis on  _ dumbest. _

D was yelling over the volume of about 400 screeching  _ birds _ trying to explain why you can’t just leave a hot burner on you  _ dumbasses.  _  Taeil was trying to calm him down while simultaneously trying not to let his own head explode in annoyance.  Hansol was making coffee but without much success.  Johnny and Ten were at the stove trying not to burn  _ something _ .  Jae and Yuta were at the table sipping juice and enjoying the mass chaos unfolding before them (angels).  Mark was somewhere.  We never know where.

WinWin gave me a look of “okay captain time to step in” and I smiled and ruffled his previously smoothed down hair.

About three hand claps was all it took for everyone to turn and see that I had entered.  It went dead silent before the screeching started back up again in an attempt for everyone to state their problems to me and why everyone else was  _ stupid _ and  _ wrong _ .

“D, dude just chill out.  They fucked up, like always.  It’ll be okay.”  I laughed pulling him to the big wooden kitchen table, while plopping a muffin in his hands and ruffling his hair.  Taeil stormed out of the area probably to go sing in the shower and relieve his early morning stress. 

I scooped the smoking pan from out of Johnny’s hands and did the only logical thing my leadership skills would let me do: fling it out the window and down the cliff below the house.

“Well…fuck.”  Johnny said.

“Problem solved.”  I answered simply wiping my hands absentmindedly on Yuta’s shirt in front of me.

“Thanks dude gotta go change again.”  He said flatly, pushing his chair in and going to find a “new” shirt that was probably just fucking dirty as well.

“Okay but what do we eat now?”  Ten asked with those big doe eyes of his.

“Cereal?  Fruit?  The shit we have that doesn’t require fire power to make?”  I shrugged pulling a few things from the cupboard.

“I need to go check on Mark don’t kill anyone while I’m gone.”  I playfully winked at Johnny and he lunged back at me.  I ducked down the hallway laughing before he even had the hopes of catching me.  Mental note: throw my super-human/bird-kid speed a lil’ thank you party later. 

I took a turn down the hall towards the room shared between the two idiots Johnny and Ten, and our youngest of the flock: Mark.

Mark, our baby bird, is someone who often keeps to himself especially in the early morning, despite being so energetic and having so many tasks and hobbies he was always on top of.  If you wanted to know where he was when he was nowhere to be found, chances were he was in his blanket fort creating songs or poems or drawings.  

He’s small and cute, a bit of a prankster and someone who always teases us a lot, but you couldn’t help but be fond of him and every little thing he does.  To me of course he felt like a little brother, but sometimes I felt even more protective of him as if he’s literally my own child.  As the leader of the flock, it makes sense that I’d want to protect every member with my life, but Mark has that one special place, along with WinWin, where looking at them reminds you that life isn’t quite as terrible as you think it is.

“Knock knock.”  I call into the room.  It was dark, with only the silver light of the morning mixed with the white curtains flooding over a lump in one of the beds.  A fluffy head popped out and stared at me with tired eyes.

“Oh, morning."  Mark mumbled out rubbing his eyes.  I came over to his bed and sat down cautiously hoping to not crush whatever it was he was working on.

“Drawing again?”  I asked picking up the paper around us.

“Mhmm"  Was his answer, obviously still sleepy.

“Well hey, there’s not really anything cooked this morning thanks to dumb and dumber, but you still need to eat.  Come on.”  I stood up and urged his body (along with his attached burrito blanket) onto my back and carried our youngest into the kitchen.

Johnny and Ten had gravitated to messing around in the backyard probably to avoid any further responsibilities for the day, so I dropped Mark into a kitchen chair and opted to go out and join them.

I, Taeyong, TY, bird-kid  _ extraordinaire _ , am not a fan of going outside.

Why?

Well, for one the outdoors simply aren’t safe.  I’m not the biggest fan of goons from the Lab dropping in unexpectedly and snatching my family away from me.  Nope no thanks.  I’ll stay under a safe roof where I can keep an eye on everyone at all times and hide in the shadows if I need to thank you very much.

My strong senses of hearing and smell help us in any sense of danger but even still, if I can stay inside for as long as possible: I will.

Our house (or “The Nest” in more comedic terms.  See: Johnny & Ten) was a chic yet simple one floor building with lots of glass windows and painted a dull grey color.  It sat secluded amongst the trees, with a wide open backyard behind it, and beyond that: a massive cliff leading to who-knows-where.

Sure, its location was strange as hell, but at least here, in the mountains, nobody could ever accidentally just stumble upon our existence.  The only beings we have to worry about are those lab monsters.  But as long as we stay relatively on the low it’s all good.

For food and supplies, well, that’s where Yuta’s  _ girlfriend, _ “the internet” comes into play.  

Since we’re all not too fond of the whole “hey let’s fly down the mountain into civilization with gaping holes in our hoodies where our mutant wings are to go pick up some Cheerios” thing, we order what we need through the internet, have it delivered to a cabin at the foot of the mountain, and go pick it up.  

The cabin?  That’s abandoned too.  But closer to  _ people _ people than our freaky house is.  Ever seen every horror movie ever?  Yep, that’s us.  But the delivery people don’t have a problem with dropping off random packages to your neighborhood-friendly ski cabin that may or may not have anyone inside.  No big deal.

The only times I ever have to go outside are to pick up my packages and fly from pine tree to pine tree when my wings are screaming at me to  _ let them out.   _ Other than that just call me Taeyong the Hermit.

It doesn’t help that my brothers (see: Dumb & Dumber & everyone else) all relatively love the fresh air of the outdoors as much as they love giving me daily anxiety.  It seems like Taeil is the only one who’s almost as content with staying inside as me.

But when his fucking  _ Canadian goose _ DNA kicks in if it gets a little too cold in the house: he’s gone.  Boom.  Out the door.   _ See ya when I’m not a popsicle. _

The one thing however that did keep me out of the house for longer than just a few minutes this time was a tuft of strawberry blonde hair peeking out from the side of our patio.  It was WinWin, and he was digging in our small garden, or rather:  _ his _ garden.  

The patch of fruits and vegetables thriving behind the house were all thanks to him; it was just something he simply loved to do.  I hopped over the railing of the deck and landed softly next to him, crouching down.

“Whatcha doin’?”  I asked him in that light-hearted voice we use around each other.  Even though it was obvious what he was up to, I still loved asking him because I loved hearing him explain it.

“The strawberries are doing great right now!”  He beamed, looking up at me with round, innocent eyes.  “It won’t be long until we can pick them; I hope everyone can wait a little bit longer.”

I smiled down at him.  WinWin was so important to me.  Being my roommate and all and due to the circumstances that we met each other, just _looking_ at him made my heart swell with affection.

“Hey...we need to go in.  Now.”  Johnny suddenly warned through gritted teeth.  He was hovering above me with Ten clutching his side with his eyes cast down.  Waves of panic went shooting through my body and I felt the hairs on my arms and neck standing up.

I did a quick survey of the area and grabbed WinWin’s arm, pulling the four of us inside without saying a word.  I didn’t need to question Johnny’s judgement: if anyone in the flock ever gave any signal of a warning it was enough for me to go into full alert.  Especially with Johnny being one of the oldest (older than me might I add...don’t let his stupidity fool you), when he gives instructions or warnings I go with what he says.

We shut and locked the doors and drew the curtains closed.  I instructed Mark to go power off all the lights and called for the rest of the flock to join us.

“What’s going on?”  D asked with a small, shaky voice and I felt my heart break a little bit.  D’s pheasant DNA made him the weakest at flying out of all of us, so when danger struck he was always scared of having to fend for himself.

I wrapped two firm arms around his shoulders.  “I don’t know but I’m sure we’re fine.”  I assured him the best I could.  “Johnny thought he saw something.  What exactly are we dealing with man?”  I added.

Johnny shook his head, keeping one eye peeking out of the curtain.

“I just got a bad feeling and my hairs started standing up like yours do ya know?  I scanned the sky and I didn’t see anything but I swear something... is watching us.”  He finished, stating each word carefully, like they were delicate glass figurines.

I saw the flock exchange worried looks with each other but no one looked  _ defeated.   _ If there’s one thing my flock isn’t: it’s weak.  They would be prepared to fight tooth and nail if it meant being against  _ them.   _

After a thick silence I spoke up.  What??   _ Hello? _  Leader here?

“Okay!  High alert and no going outside for a few days.  Don’t waste supplies since we’ll be inside.  No loud noises.  We’re going to be fine but I want everyone to be on their toes.”  I smacked Taeil on the back.  “And smile.”  I added.  He gave me his famous look of “touch me again and I’ll flip you over a table.”

Note to self: stop smacking the least fun bird-kid.

\---

The hours of the afternoon passed by and I could sense the flock becoming restless.  Their tired wings ached to open against some sort of light, and I’m sure some of them (see: dumb and dumber) wanted to go fuck around with random shit in the house  _ just because they can. _

But for the sake of the safety of my family I wanted to stay on lockdown for at least another 24 hours.  If there was one thing I could be absolutely sure of, it’s that no one after us would invade our home; if they thought we weren’t around then they wouldn’t bother making things hard on themselves.

However, staying in close proximity of nine other monstrously-sized (and might I add: not the best smelling) bird-kids for this long was starting to make me feel like my damn feathers would fall out.

I needed a solution or Ten’s pacing was going to get him flung out the window.  To hell with him.  He can fight for himself out there.

I slapped several board games and a jumbo bag of cheese puffs on the coffee table. 

“Since no one’s gonna be wandering aimlessly around the house for a while: go nuts.”  I stated glamorously.  Johnny took no hesitation to the deck of cards in front of him.

“Fuckin’ Blackjack!  Jaehyun your ass is dead.”  He said to no one in particular.  As if on cue, Jae lifted a sleepy and seemingly careless head off of Yuta’s shoulder and approached the older.  He grabbed the deck from his hands.

“In your dreams.  Fuck you, you can’t even shuffle.”

Time ticked on full of cards flying across the room, game pieces slamming on the table, and nearly a hundred cheesy fingers.  I snorted as I caught a glimpse of a puff in Hansol’s hair.  I’m pretty sure he knew it was there too.  But Hansol would be damned if he lost a game of Sorry to worry about some food on himself.

And it was so hard not to be fond. 

These are my brothers.

Biological or not, all nine of them had somehow  _ stupidly  _ wiggled their way into every crevasse of my heart.  They all meant so much to me.  From their dumb personalities, to the memories I shared with them.

I would never let anything happen to a single one of them.

“FUCKIN’ BINGO!”  D slammed down his cards and jumped into some sort of...victory dance?  Who knew anymore.  I didn’t even know they’d been playing this game at this point.

A tuft of hair tickled my shoulder and I realized WinWin had fallen asleep on my arm.

But now he was wide awake thanks to D.

“Squawk much?”  WinWin covered his ears and D stuck out his tongue.

“I’m the Bingo king round these parts.  Deal with my victory squawking.”  Ten and Mark laughed in the distance at this.  My heart swelled.

“Hey, try and go back to sleep.”  I whispered down to WinWin.  “Sorry you can’t really go to your room.  Orders a la Mama Bird (that would be moi).  Just gotta keep an eye on all of you.”  He nodded sleepily in response.

“S’ok.  Blanket?”  He asked.  I reached over the sofa and grabbed him one, tucking it around him and smoothing down his hair; an instinct long engraved into my very nervous system.

My hand lingered on his forehead and I rubbed small, reassuring circles there.  I watched him for a moment and captured every detail.

WinWin was my roommate, sure.  But that wasn’t the only reason I felt a special fondness for him that the others just didn’t quite have.

Shhh.  Leader’s secrets.

I pulled away, but felt a familiar hand grasp my wrist.  Light as a feather.

“Ty.”  WinWin whispered.

“Hm?”

“Thank you for protecting us.”

Hell that could mean a lot of things.  For protecting us tonight?  For protecting us for all these years on the run of our lives?

I leaned back over to ask him what he meant, but he was asleep again.  And I never did find out.

\---

 


	2. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's just a dream"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See Chapter 1 notes for any info on the story.

(Flashback)

 

I winced as the cold metal bars of my cage pressed into my back the wrong way as I woke up.  

 

The lab was quiet and the lights were off which meant no one was in yet today.

 

Cool.

 

I sat back and stretched my legs as much as I could, and began to sing softly out loud.  Singing was one of the few things that made me feel like I had some sort of identity.  It was my voice; I owned it and no one was going to take that from me (mental note: maybe that’s why I’ve become such a smart ass).

 

It wasn’t just singing.  It was poetry too.  Poetry which later turned into rapping as my fellow cage-mates had taught me how to do over time.  It was fun.  It passed the time when all you could do was sit around in a box every day and wait for them to run experiments on you.

 

Clink!

 

A pebble landed outside my cage’s door interrupting me which only meant one thing.

 

“The singing not good today, songbird?”  I smirked in the shadows even though he couldn’t see me.

 

“Yeah you’re  _ horrible.”   _ I heard him chuckle back.  It was Taeil.  He was the oldest one here, and our resident “songbird” aka if he wasn’t a mutant freak locked up he’d probably be  _ famous _ or something like that; however humans work.

 

“You wanna sing something together?”  He added.

 

I stretched and let out a loud sound as the tension escaped my body.  “Nah.  You geese are too loud.”

 

“You’re so mean to me.  Go back to the big birds’ section will ya?”  He joked back.

 

Truthfully, yeah, I wasn’t even supposed to be in this room.  Me and two other guys, Hansol and Jaehyun, were kept in an "ultra-secure" room that was way bigger than any other room in the Lab.  Birds of prey problems.  

 

They don’t think we’re stable or safe, so they keep us on constant watch.  Unless we’re being tested on.  Then we get taken back to the mutant bird-kid day care room.

 

Fun times.

 

It’s like I  _ chose _ to have my DNA mixed up with a bald eagle and be deemed an unstable freak.  Dreams really do come true.

 

“What time did the others get taken out?”  I asked cautiously, changing the subject. 

 

“A few hours ago.  I went first so that’s why I’m here, but they should be done soon too.  It’s flight monitoring today.  I hear D has something tough waiting for him…”  Taeil answered.  He voice was thick with something sad.  I didn’t push to ask for further details.

 

“Guess that’s what’s on my agenda today too, since I’m back in here after all.”  I stretched again trying to act casual.

 

I was always trying to be the tough one and covering up and signs of being scared.

 

But the truth is:  _ I’m terrified. _

 

Being locked in a cage all day long is bad enough, but I  _ hate _ being tested on.  Especially when you don’t meet their standards for the day: that’s when you really need to worry.

 

“...How did yours go?  Are you okay?”  I suddenly asked realizing that Taeil didn’t evaluate much on his own testing.

 

I could see his weak (and obviously forced) smile through the metal bars and I felt my heart drop straight to my stomach.

 

“Let’s just say I don’t think they were planning on letting anyone get off easy today.  But it’s just a scratch; nothing a little time won’t heal.”

 

_ Just a scratch. _

 

He’s right.  Thanks to our mutant DNA we heal incredibly fast which is great when you’re literally always being hurt by these pieces of shit.  But it didn’t make me feel any better since I still had to swallow the fact that he was injured again.

 

I didn’t handle the news of any of my friends being hurt well.  But when it came to Taeil, I was especially sensitive.  We had become the closest to inseparable you can get in a place like this; since the day we were conscious of our existence.

 

Sometimes, to me, it wasn’t always our closeness that made me worry about him above anyone else.  It was feelings deeper than that that I chose not to voice to the others or even myself sometimes.

 

Taeil knew about these feelings.  He returned them too.  But there was nothing we could do about it living here.  And so these feelings slowly died, and the ghost of something that almost was lingered in its place.

 

We chose not to talk about it anymore, and the air around us turned sourly awkward.  But he was still like my brother at the end of it all; I was never going to let _anything_ destroy that fact.

 

Suddenly, the lights switched on, and blinding white light flooded through the bars of my cage.  The heavy door to the room slammed shut with a  _ bang  _ and menacing footsteps echoed across the room.

 

“No.”  I whispered out, panic all of a sudden washing over me.

 

“021 is up next.  Subject is due for flight response testing, hunting monitoring, and reflex evaluation.”  A voice instructed above me to who I assumed was another doctor.  I could hear scribbling on a clipboard before my cage was unlocked and they grabbed me by my ankles.

 

I didn’t even bother to struggle anymore.  Seventeen years of this had conditioned you to know that the sooner you get in, the sooner you get out.

 

An orange tag was clamped around my left ankle, and my hands were restrained behind my back as they walked me out of the room.  On the way out, another doctor holding a cage walked in.  I recognized a tuft of bright orange hair and froze in my tracks.

 

It was D.  He was crumpled in a ball and bleeding  _ everywhere. _  He had deep cuts in his legs and feathers cluttered the floor of his cage. 

 

No one had ever come back from flight testing this bad before.

 

“D!”  I cried out, horror and the feeling of  _ responsibility _ sudden rushing through my veins.

 

“What did you do to him?  What happened in the flight testing?”  I angrily tried to rip away from the doctors that held my arms.

 

“Sir 021 is unstable send backup immediately.”  One of the doctors buzzed into a walkie talkie.  It was always the same.  One of us goes into a panic and starts asking too many questions.  They pretend they don't even hear any of it and send someone to “contain” us; the usual.

 

“No!  Tell me what you did in that test!  This isn’t normal: why is he so hurt?!”  I was crying now.  Hot tears were falling down my cheeks like a broken faucet.  I was scared.  I was upset that they had hurt D so badly, and I was scared for who would get the same treatment next.

 

Of course, D’s DNA makes him the weakest out of all the bird-kids when it comes to flying.  He’s mixed with a Pheasant; birds that can’t fly for very long.  His wings are smaller and thinner than the rest of us.  Of course, his fast legs thankfully make up for that.  I mean,  _ the kid can run.   _ But it makes no difference when being tested on flying and he can’t always meet the standards.  Or more: if we ever escape this place and need to fly for our lives.

 

In the Lab, when we get tested on our flying, they put us in one huge room alone, with an enormous ceiling and a wind tunnel on the wall opposite the door.

 

A buzzer sounds and you have to complete a series of tests.  First, stamina from flying directly at the powerful wind tunnel to see how long you can stay up without needing to land.  Next, jumping from platform to platform to see how little we need our wings to reach certain heights.  Then, speed.  We have to fly from the ground to the ceiling and back in a certain amount of time.  Finally, agility, where harmless objects are fired at us and we get deducted points every time one hits us.

 

It’s actually pretty hard, as straightforward as it sounds.  We’re locked in cages for about 23 hours each day, roughly 5 days a week.  Then all of a sudden you’re forced on your feet and expected to be up to efficient standards before you can even stretch your tail feathers.  No pun intended.

 

But this?  No one’s ever come back like they’ve just seen war.  Maybe sometimes after some tests we’ll have shock wounds, burns, and scratches.  But I’ve never seen one of us looking like near  _death._

 

It didn’t sit right in my stomach and I wanted answers.

 

Hey, if I was created and being forced to live here against my own will I deserved to know the truth right?

 

I was still kicking and screaming, and... _ crying _ .  I didn’t really cry much.  Stone cold eagle amiright?  I couldn’t afford to be vulnerable in a place like this; no matter how much physical or emotional pain I was really going through.  I had to be strong.

 

“What did you do to him??”  I was sobbing now and it was honestly the most vulnerable I had ever felt in my life.

 

Cold swept over my body as I felt a familiar muzzle wrapped around my mouth.  I had only ever been contained like this one other time in my life and it’s not something I prefer to talk about.  The restraints on my wrists were tightened, and I heard a taser charging up behind me.  

 

A last few sobs escaped my constricted body and I gave pleading eyes toward Taeil’s cage.

 

_ Make sure he’s okay _ , is the message I hoped to convey.  I could see his eyes full of tears through his bars: I knew he saw everything.

 

The last thing I remember before blacking out was the shocking feeling of the taser making contact with my calfs.  I buckled, and everything went dark.

 

When I awoke, it was somewhere that I had only remembered in my dreams.  An old friend that I didn’t share fond memories with.

 

It was a containment room.  

 

In here, there were no cages and you didn’t have to worry about being randomly tested on.  However, you were kept in here for weeks on end until deemed stable by the doctors.  They constantly had an eye on you, and the comforting voices of my flock were long gone.  In here I felt alone.  In here I felt like a nobody.

 

I winced as my most recent shock sent a reminder of pain through my whole body.  I was used to being shocked at this point (they used them for all sorts of tests all the time) but that didn’t mean the motherfuckers didn’t still  _ hurt. _

 

I raised my head slowly to take in my surroundings.

 

Only I wasn’t alone.

 

Two eyes belonging to a scrawny figure stared me down in utter  _ terror.   _ I shifted a little to get a better look at the person and they scrambled into the nearest corner.

 

“Relax, I’m not gonna hurt you.”  I managed out, not even recognizing my own voice.

 

They let out a heavy breath and directed their eyes back on me.

 

“I’m Taeyong.  Got a name?”  I tried.  No answer.

 

“Why are you in here?”  I attempted more conversation to no success.  After waiting a few more minutes there was still no answer from them.  I sighed and laid my head against the wall behind me and closed my eyes hoping to shut out the world for at least a little while.

 

“027.  Magpie DNA.  I go by WinWin.”  The voice finally spoke.  My head snapped up.  WinWin wasn’t looking directly at me, but his eyes were cast down in fear.

 

“Nice to meet you WinWin.  Bald eagle myself.  But I won’t hurt you.”  I smiled and reached out my hand, but he didn’t seem to think what I had said was very funny.  I slowly lowered my hand.

 

“Why are you in here?  I’ve never seen you before…”  I asked again cautiously.

 

WinWin took a deep, shaky breath before finally speaking some more.

 

“I’m a transfer subject from a Lab in China.  There was a mishap in one of the buildings and a lot of us died from too much radiation exposure.  One of the doctors took me and ran.  I guess I ended up here somehow.”  He paused for a long time.  “And I guess I’m the only subject that survived.”  He choked on the last word like it burned going down.

 

“Hey.”  I said as softly as I could.  I slowly made my way across the room to him, and placed a firm but gentle arm around his shoulder.  Surprisingly, he didn’t reject me.  Rather, his whole body crumpled into mine as he let out the cries and sobs I assumed he had been keeping in for far too long.

 

“You’re here now, with us.  Outside this room there’s a whole flock waiting to meet you that will love you unconditionally.  You have us now.”  I said.  

 

I’m sure my words meant nothing to him.  He had lost everything and was now in a foreign country, scared and unsure of everything.  But I had to try my best to make him  _ know _ I had his back from this day forth.

 

“Thank you.”  He replied, with wet eyes, and a genuine smile flashed up at me.

 

And my heart skipped a beat.

 

\---

 

A flash of lightning followed by a stampede of thunder woke me up from the sleep I didn’t even know had taken over me.

 

I realized I had let dreams of the Lab take over my mind again, and slowly began to recognize my surroundings and calm my anxiety with the knowledge that  _ I’m not there anymore and everything is okay. _

 

My left side was warm.  WinWin had slumped over in his blanket onto my side, snoring lightly in his deep sleep.  I didn’t dare wake him, but I couldn’t sit here cramped up anymore.  My legs needed to  _ move _ or a “memories of being trapped in a cage for seventeen years” PTSD-induced anxiety attack would unleash itself.

 

Crazy, I know.

 

My eyes didn’t take long to adjust to the dark room (thanks Sir. Mutant DNA) and I observed the sleepy bird-kids sprawled about the room.  I noticed one pair of open eyes though, watching me.

 

It was Taeil.  His eyes shifted to WinWin at my side and then quickly flitted his gaze away.

 

“Couldn’t sleep.”  His voice was barely a whisper.  “But it’s nearly sunrise.  We should wake everyone up.”

 

“Got it.”  I responded.

 

We began the process of shaking the kids awake and propping up a particularly sleepy D who refused to sit upright on his own.

 

“Why are we up so damn early?”  Hansol muttered with eyes glued shut.

 

“Because we still need to be alert dumbass.”

 

“Hey, I feel like whoever was watching us would’ve beat it during the storm last night.”  Johnny spoke up.  

 

He was right.  It had started crazing raining right before we all passed out, and I had woken up to severe lightning myself.  It was possible the enemy would’ve either taken shelter somewhere safer or completely given up on us; if their motive was even getting us in the first place.  Which it probably was.

 

Call us famous.

 

Johnny suddenly stood up, startling the still drowsy Ten who had taken to curling up next to him.

 

“Ty, let me scan the area real quick.  I can do it.”  Johnny had a determined look on his face as he drew back the curtains and reached for the door handle.

 

“The HELL you think you’re doing??”  I jumped up and grabbed his arm, shoving him back.

 

He shoved my chest back lightly.  There was no venom behind it, but you could tell he was still upset or _something._

 

“Come on man I can’t stay cooped up in here any longer.  It’s almost been an entire day my wings need to  _ breathe _ .”  He pleaded.

 

We jumped into a light argument of who was being  _ stupid _ and  _ wrong  _ and me explaining why we needed to stay safe and not be idiots and him pushing that staying shut in like this reminded him of worse times.

 

I couldn’t argue with him there.  All of us were terrified of small spaces and being confined.  It brought to the surface times when we were treated like monsters and not teenagers in human bodies with feelings and shit.

 

But I was just so scared someone from the Lab had finally found us.  I was scared they were going to take us back.  And being back in that hell was worse than death itself.  We could stand to be on house arrest under leader’s orders for a few days if it meant staying out of that prison.

 

We were both right.  But _my_ gut was telling me something bad was going to happen if he opened up that door.  I didn't know what was running through his instincts but it sure wasn't anything smart.

 

My gut was never wrong.

 

Before I realized what was happening, the lock on the back door began to rattle and the glass slowly slid open.  My heart flew up to my throat (no pun intended thank you very much) as realization set in.

 

Mark had slipped out onto the deck in the midst of my argument with Johnny.  He turned to face us and his hair slowly grew more soaked with rain as he stood there.

 

“It’s okay.”  He said softly.

 

“Mark.  Get back in here.   _ Please. _ ”  I begged him, reaching a shaky hand out.

 

_ This doesn’t feel right, this doesn’t feel right, this doesn’t feel right. _

 

Alarms were screaming throughout every inch of my brain and I was about three seconds away from lunging forward and picking him back up into the house.

 

My feet were frozen though.

 

_ Move!  _  I screamed at them.  Why do my limbs never want to move when I  _ need _ them to?

 

“It’s okay Ty.  I’m coming.”  He called at me.  

 

Mark took one step forward, then two.

 

He was right there.

 

And then it felt like everything was moving through molasses.  Things were going so slow, and the room was dark and spinning.

 

A large figure with blood red eyes flashed behind him.  My Mark.  The figured slipped a bag over his head, wrapped two monstrous arms around him, and was then suddenly being pulled up on a wire, leading to a helicopter above.  With my Mark.

 

Why the  _ fuck _ had nobody heard a damn helicopter approaching.

 

Fuck.   _ FUCK. _

 

“MARK!”  It felt like everyone in the planet was screaming his name, when in reality it was just nine mutants scared out of their damn minds.

 

_ It’s just a dream.  It’s just a dream. _

 

As much as I loved lying to myself, I was wide awake, and my youngest was being taken away from me.  Away from safety.  Back to the prison we had finally found refuge from.  Back to pain and sorrow.

 

Mark wasn’t the type to be reckless.  I couldn’t understand why he had gone outside when I had told him it wouldn’t be safe.  He knows my instincts.

 

But right now I couldn’t even think about anything properly.

 

“Guys, move NOW!”  I shredded my throat screaming at the rest of flock.  The ripping sound of wings filled the air as the flock moved out, shakily taking flight and flying for our lives.

 

For Mark's life.

 

I lunged upward.  I had never felt myself fly this fast in my life.  But I had also never felt a fear like this since we first escaped the Lab.  

 

I couldn’t lose anyone else.

 

As we surged to the sky, several other figures charged at us out of nowhere.  The deafening sound of bone hitting bone echoed throughout the air as several of them took punches to the face.  Unfortunately for us, we can never quite escape any fight without a few scratches ourselves.  I saw out of the corner of my eye Yuta falling to the ground with a bloody cheek, and Jae taking a blow to the gut.

 

I winced but kept going for Mark.  The rest would be alright,

 

My eyes zeroed in on the monster that had him, and I drove toward my target.

 

Everything was now going too fast to even comprehend.

 

Before I could even do anything else, the wire carried them all the way up to the helicopter and into its doors.  They slammed shut right as I reached them.  Pounding desperately on the doors, I pried at the cracks until my fingernails bled and my hands grew raw and sore.

 

“Taeyong STOP.”  It was Taeil.  He had grabbed my waist, and yanked me back down as the helicopter pulled away, taking one of my flock with it.  Hopeless screams and sobs that I didn’t even recognize coming from myself escaped my throat.

 

Never in my eighteen years had I ever felt something like this.

 

Terrified, confused, unsure, weak, defeated.  I had let us all down.  I had let Mark down.

 

“Thank you for protecting us.”  WinWin’s words from the night before burned in my ears and I helplessly crashed to the ground, Taeil’s arms still firmly around me.

 

The rest of those monsters flew up on their own wires and clung to the metal bars beneath the helicopter.  We all watched hopelessly as it cleared the sky.

 

After it was gone, as if the universe was mocking us, the rain stopped, and the sky was clear.

 

We had failed.  I had failed.

 

Protect who?  I couldn't protect anyone.

 


	3. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Boys, we're going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY I'm so sorry it's been forever since I updated but I was busy with graduation and then I had writer's block :(( I don't have much of summer break left to work on this but I'm going to do as much as I can because I'm filled with so many ideas right now and I want to get out as many chapters as I possibly can!! So I hope you keep sticking around ♡

(Flashback)

“Ok kiddo, I want you to close your eyes and relax.” A voice instructed me softly.

The voice belongs to Lyn, the sole scientist at the Lab that I put my trust in and someone that I dare to call a friend. She’s in charge of psychological tests and the only doctor here that actually gives a shit about the subjects and our feelings. She’s tall and slender with long black hair. And she’s young. Too young to spend the rest of her life working in a place like this.

We had met for the first time when I was about 3 years old or something that young. She didn’t test on us bird-kids much back then, but I remember she always snuck us snacks and ruffled our hair. It was a nice change after usually receiving shocks for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

We all started coming in for more check-ups with her when we reached around age 5, and it’s became a regular thing since then. She’s kind. She’s gentle. She radiates love.

At one point I thought I loved her. Then the whole fiasco with Taeil happened. Then I didn’t know what to feel anymore. But I know I trust her with my life.  No matter what.

I was sitting in a large metal chair that Lyn kept a big fluffy cushion on so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable (again: a literal angel). There’s a metal contraption locked around my head and an IV drip in my arm to monitor my brain activity and vitals.

_Relax_ , she had told me.

_No problem._ Check-ups with Lyn were the only times I could feel completely at ease. 25 minutes of pure bliss from the everyday nightmare I was living in.

The monitors around me turned on and I could hear a faint whirring from the machines and the steady pulse of my heartbeat beeping in the air. My breathing was even and I felt warm even if the room was freezing.

“Doing great kiddo.” Lyn commented softly, patting my knee. When I first realized I had a crush on her, whenever she used to touch me it would make my heartbeat quicken and everything else jittery. She would always ask me if I felt okay, and I would always have to lie.

Now, thankfully, I see her as mom more than anything so those problems don’t arise anymore.

While I waited for the tests to finish, I looked around the room I was in. It was made up of grey walls and dying lights occasionally flickering.

What a sad, pathetic place.

I know scientists are important to the progress of the world and all that, but what use could half-people, half-mutants possibly have? It just blows my mind how they really don’t see us as capable of having feelings just like any other human. They probe and prod us and shock us until you can smell burnt flesh and they’ve seen us cry _I know they have_ but they _still_ don’t give a shit.

I’ve seen my share of the other mutant projects drop dead on the floor right in front of me and it’s given me enough nightmares to last until I’m 20. Of course, if I even live to see that old.

It’s unfortunate really. Boo-hoo to the poor bird kid right? Look, I didn’t ask to be born as a freak so cut me some slack would ya?

“Alright Ty, you’re all done.” Lyn’s voice suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts as she removed the equipment off of me and disconnected my IV.

I slowly sat up as she turned around with her clipboard to talk about my results.

“Okay kiddo ready?” She asked with a weak smile. She hates it here I know she does. I nod even though I could care less about how my body is balancing out. I just want to nap.

Lyn starts relaying whatever’s scribbled down on her charts. Some stuff about how the chemicals that make up my natural hunting instincts are low (which is probably due to the fact that _I’ve never been outside a day in my life_ ), but my hormones are high. I felt my face heat up and avoided eye contact at that one. Don’t need the birds and the bees talk right now, quite literally.

“Ty, can I ask? Have you ever thought about your emotional feelings regarding love? I need to know this to keep track of your instinct portion.” Lyn asked carefully. I shrugged.

“I mean...sort of?”  To be honest, I don’t even really know what love is. None of us do. I’ve only seen what they show us on the big TV’s of American dramas so we can experience ‘human culture’ or whatever. But even that never really explained anything. I know that most living things will usually experience physical attraction to someone else, but personally I haven’t been exposed to much.

“The only time I’ve ever felt anything remotely close to that was with someone here.” I finished, my voice trailed off at the end.  

What?!  I had to be honest with her.

But it was true. The first time I thought of Taeil in that way I had no idea what the hell was wrong with me. We’d grown up together, sure. But one day he just seemed... _different_ to me. His stupid smile and especially the way he would sing out loud made my heart speed up and he made me nervous. I thought that meant I liked him. I guess that really was just my instincts speaking.

Lyn didn’t need to know about the other incident. I would just never tell her, truthfully.

“Was it someone in your unit??” She suddenly asked, eyes wide and a smile creeping up to the corners of her mouth. Damn it: Lyn is supposed to be a professional scientist here but at the mention of dating drama she turns into a teenager again.

My face burned a bright red and I couldn’t help stuttering out my answer.

“Okay yes! It was with another bird kid but I couldn’t really help it! I don’t feel that way for him anymore though.” There it was, my gay crisis out in the air for Lyn to judge me. Shoutout to the shitty scientists here for engineering zero girl bird-kids in this particular lab. So if you were talking about my department, you knew it was all boys being talked about.

And the thing is: in here we aren’t really taught how feelings work. I never knew it wasn’t the norm to like another boy until I overheard some of the other scientists giving some guy shit on TV for having a husband. Until that day I thought my feelings for Taeil were completely normal. But I guess at birth you’re expected to like the opposite sex, no if’s, but’s, or in-between’s about it. I had to find out that there are different sexualities by casually bringing it up to Lyn one day. I claimed I had seen something on a show that I wanted to understand better. She never caught on.

“Can I ask you to further elaborate?” She asked me, kindness softening her eyes. I took a deep breath before speaking again. I didn’t need to be scared around Lyn. Lyn was warmth. Lyn was protection. Lyn was home.

“How old am I right now? Like 15 or something? So I guess I started feeling differently for said person (I stared her down at that one getting the message across that _I won’t be revealing his name thank you_ ) maybe like a couple years ago? Yeah I think it was like two years ago? And just recently I kind of forced myself to stop liking him just because of our circumstances y’know?"  I took a deep breath at the end realizing that I had talked way too damn fast.

“Taeil?” She stated simply without looking up. It wasn’t really a question; she just knew.

_I should just die._

Lyn smiled mischievously while scribbling down some more notes.

“Okay kid. So your health is as normal as it gets in a place like this. Your iron levels are a little low; I’ll see what I can do to get that fixed for you (I laughed at this; as if they actually cared about treating us well in here). Your hormones are high but you’re a teenager so that’s normal. And any of your natural bird instincts are lower than what they should be, so they might be running more simulation tests on you soon. _Buckle up_.” Lyn finished my evaluation by clicking her pen shut.

“Unfortunately for you guys, and myself, the scientists here have a reason for everything they do. It may be a shit hole in this dump, but if we didn’t regulate everything the way we do, it could mean big trouble for the company that runs this place.” She continued, looking me dead on with a steady face.

She’s briefly talked about this before, but this time she seemed a lot more serious. I don't like it.

“Ty.” After a long pause she spoke up again, her voice different than other times before.

“Do you remember my offer from before?” She asked. I nodded. I couldn’t forget it. The question she had asked me months before haunted nearly every one of my dreams.

“Please keep considering it. You’re the only one I’ve told but soon I want to tell your brothers too. Once I finally have the perfect plan, I’m going to get us all out of here. I’m going to take us far, far away from this place. I promise.” She said. Her voice is sincere and serious, but I couldn’t help still feeling nervous about the whole thing.

How could her dream possibly ever work? Everything at the Lab is monitored, recorded, chained down, and had a security system on it. Of course I trust Lyn; trust her with my life even. I want nothing more than to see what the sky really looks like or feel real air on my wings and filling up my lungs. But the reality that I’ll never see that day had sunk in long ago. It was hard to find any bit of hope now.

But Lyn takes up a pretty big chunk of my heart and letting her down was out of the question for me at this point.

“Roger that.”

\---

The air around us hung heavy with the realization that our worst nightmare had finally become a reality. I looked around at the rest of my flock: Hansol, Johnny, Ten, Jae, Yuta, D, Taeil, and WinWin. Their faces plastered with the emotions we had all buried deep down within ourselves.

_Fear. Weakness. Failure._

We were vulnerable beings. No matter how much freedom we wanted to have, we weren’t even our own people. The Lab _owned_ us. We were created as monsters against our own will and we just had to live with that fact.

Even though it had been almost two years since we escaped, even if we tried everything to stay safe and hidden, it was inevitable that they would find us one day. And that day had finally come.

They had one of my flock. Our youngest baby bird. I, as the leader, had let him get taken away from us.

It was all my fault.

In the midst of the few seconds (what actually felt like decades) it took for them to take Mark from us, most of the flock had somehow managed to add some new scrapes and scratches to their repertoire of battle scars.

“Fucking hell.” I breathed out shakily after my few internal moments of self pity ceased.

Flock is injured. Pick yourself up. Get your leader (mom) mode on.

I grabbed the nearest first aid kit (yeah you heard that correctly: nearest. In a house with idiots like these I’d say we have about seven in various places currently) and started cleaning tiny cuts and distributing boo-boo healing kisses (much to Hansol and Taeil’s protests) to whoever needed it. They all insisted they were fine and would probably be fully healed in a few minutes. They were right, but I mainly did it to take my mind off of my anxiety for just a moment. Pretty fucking selfish, I know.

“How many do you think there were in total?” I questioned while sticking a bandage on Jae’s left cheek.

“Dunno. Maybe only a dozen or so. They obviously weren’t out to hurt us or there would have been more and they would've punched harder. It was probably just a distraction more than anything. I just can’t believe you didn’t notice them all.” Yuta spoke up from across the room.

He was right. We had gotten lucky this time. And we had been damn lucky they hadn't sent more and tried to take us all.

I looked around with guilt filling me up again. Everyone had scratches and small stains of blood on their clothes except for WinWin and Ten who got out with just messy hair thankfully.

I slowly sunk down to the floor beneath where I was standing. Without warning, hot tears began to roll down my cheeks.  


In my blind fury, I had let my guard down. I was too weak to save the member of our flock being taken, and too stubborn to fight alongside the rest of my flock.

“Hey, we’re okay Ty…” Hansol reached out to put a hand on my shoulder, but I bolted up again before he could.

“I’m sorry.” I choked out. What a little _bitch_ I am. There’s work to be done and I’m sitting here crying. I wiped my tears and snot with the back of my sleeve, threw my hoodie off over my head and tossed it aside.

Crying wasn’t going to protect my flock. Crying wasn’t going to get Mark back.

I charged to the hall closet and began digging.

Piles of dusty board games that we had stored away from when She was staying with us, lost foam darts, batteries, and the occasional dead bug came flying out all at once and a cloud of dust filled up my nostrils as I excavated the contents of the often neglected closet.

“What is he doing?” D mumbled.

And suddenly what I was looking for was right in front of me.

I slammed the decrepit and coffee stained piece of paper down onto the kitchen table with gusto as the rest of the guys gathered around me.

“You can’t be fucking serious.” Taeil began, his eyes never leaving the paper

“If what we think is what took Mark, then we know for certain where they’re taking him. More specifically: where we can get him back.” I declared with determination seeping into my every word.

All of us glared down at the paper beneath us: an old map. And in the center of it, highlighted in fading red marker read, “Jeju Signaplex Inc.”

“Boys, we’re going home.”

 


End file.
